Comprehensible Input (How Much Do I Need to Understand?)

What percentage of a foreign language needs to be comprehensible in order for material to be useful?

This is a topic of much debate in the language learning community. I really think it depends what you're trying to do.

Robin MacPherson's video about reading:

Matt vs Japan has some good videos about this, as do other language learning channels. The specific question I answer in this video is whether a comprehension level of 5% is still worthwhile and to that I answer "no". It may be of some benefit but it's not worthwhile, because you could be doing something that would increase your understanding of the language much faster.

Resources like Duolingo boast having a lot of material but in truth, there are more words to learn in the opening two chapters of a novel than in the entire Duolingo course whether you are learning French, Swedish, Russian, German or Esperanto. So it's important that we understand when the best time to start reading that novel or listening to that podcast or watching that YouTube video is, because tools that can give your comprehensible input are much more effective than Duolingo.


Language learning videos, tips and techniques!

Thumbnail photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash.

[evelynslibrary]

I think you're the most realistic language learner on YouTube! You talk about the "bad" stuff of language learning too and that's what makes me feel better about myself to be honest... You actually motivate me to study, while watching other youtubers just gives me more anxiety 😂

[leo]

I think I understood 60% of the meaning in this video.

[estrafalario]

8:00 It's not your English mindset. It ALWAYS HAPPEN. The subtitles catch our attention, I've experienced it with my native language and the automatic subtitles that pop up in YouTube and I start to read instead of listen. It's crazy but that's how our brain works...

[Clarabella-clgb]

I have read "Harry Potter and the philosophers stone" in my native language (german) about six times. Therefore I almost always know what will come next when reading a sentence because I am so familiar with it. I am currently listening to the Italian audiobook and I have already ordered the book version. It works so well because even though my level is still rather low (A2-B1) I always know what is happening no matter my literal understanding. I love how the Italian narrator narrates the book in a more emotional way than the German narrator did and I'm looking forward to doing the same thing with "Chamber of Secrets".


Great videos by the way your insights are very interesting and I love your humor. :)

[ESISecurity]

I always use subtitles in the same language as the show. I find that hearing French and reading French subtitles is extremely helpful. My reading comprehension is fairly good, but the French accent and modes of speech are hard for me to hear. So, I hear the words and read them at the same time. It's astonishing how often I understand the written words over the spoken. Once I know exactly what the words are the person is speaking, I will rewind and re-watch to catch the nuances. Most the time I swear that the French just mumble their words.... and the first time I heard "Je suis" pronounced as "schweee" I was dumbfounded. But they really do pronounce it like that at times.

[JustinArmstrongsite]

I think you have to make a distinction between not understanding tv because you don't know enough words, and not understanding because your brain can't parse the sounds yet.

I've often had the experience where it takes me an entire season of a tv show to get used to the actors' voices. Often I don't understand a lot until the last few episodes. When I rewatch the first episode again, I found that I actually knew and could hear all the words. I just couldn't hear them in real time yet.

Just because it seems like you're wasting time doesn't mean that your brain isn't working hard to understand and learn.

[clara_hp]

So I’m native German and I’ve binge watched how I met ur mother in English with English subtitles.A few weeks later I watched two German (!) Videos about Historic events and the first one had subtitles that I kept because I didn’t care. However, the second video didn’t have subtitles and for the first 5-10 min I really struggled to fully understand the video even though it wasn’t about a complex topic and it was in my native language. So the problem isn’t ( only) that u want to use ur native language but just that it seems like reading is less hard then listening. At least for some people

[KatSchlitz]

Perhaps one of the best polyglot learning channels on YT...I have watched a lot of language learning channels looking for tips on hacking learning. So many are filled with stunts that offer no help and may even demotivate with their supposed outlandish ability in short order. Awesome realistic leveraged advice on this channel, superb.

[anduril]

You're killing it with these videos. I spent so many wasted years either doing things that were too easy or way too hard, and I stagnated. This stagnation is really reflected in my third language, Mandarin, but it took me getting to a fairly high level in my second language, Spanish, through doing things I actually enjoy, i.e. reading books and listening to podcasts, in levels not too terribly difficult but not too easy either (Krashen's i+1), that I made huge strides, and I can now apply this too my Mandarin studies. My biggest issue is finding that sweet spot in terms of understanding when it comes to Mandarin resources. A lot of the resources I find are still harder than I would like (I maybe understand 25-30% of it), so I just have to be a little more deliberate in going through the material.

[senshtatulo]

Watching a TV show or a movie in a language you don't understand automatically provides some comprehensible input just by virtue of being able to see what's going on. The more you watch it, the more you'll associate the spoken language with what you're seeing.
Audio books don't have this advantage unless there are sound effects (and even then not much extra-linguistic context). The spoken language itself, with no visual clues, provides no hints of meaning to grab onto.

[abesapien]

Yes, something might offer only 5% comprehensible input, but it might offer a huge boost in motivation and a desire to learn the language. Keeping your "enthusiasm" meter full is crucial in language learning. I advocate eating the equivalent of "junk meals" (like your McDonald's analogy) from time to time in your learning development, simply for the reason that it is fun, relaxing, and makes you appreciate the sounds and feel of the language.

[VioletEnds]

I'm currently watching Avatar the Last Airbender in Dutch and I would say I'm understanding roughly 90% of what is said in real-time. I think, for me, this is the optimal level of understanding, because it allows me to very easily infer the meaning of words I don't know through context.

I'm also currently listening to the audiobook of the first book in the "Ranger's Apprentice" series. There's a lot less understanding there, of course, because there's no visual context, and the reader speaks much faster than the actors in ATLA, so I would estimate ~80-85% understanding of the meaning and 60-70% understanding of individual words, but it's a lot more helpful for practice understanding native connected speech.

[ronlugbill]

I teach Spanish and French. I start with a fairy tale that the kids are probably already familiar with, like Goldilocks or the 3 Little Pigs. I do a bilingual summary, taking key sentences out of the text, then reading them in L1 and L2. Then read the story in L1. Then play a native speaker reading the story in L2 or a video in L2 with L2 subtitles. Then I repeat this 3 days in a row. Some of the kids probably tune out. But most like it if I use a familiar childrens fairy tale. And then they are understanding real native language speakers and reading the target language very fast.

[GeorgeDeCarlo]

Best for comprehensible input is Prof. Brown at Poly-glot-a-lot channel. Scroll to the bottom of list of videos for the main video with instructions. 1, 100 hours for nearly all languages for basic fluency.
As for subtitles, best with subtitles in the target language with speaking in the target language too.
All of Prof. Krashen videos help to understand the acquisition method. No grammar, no translation, no memorization.

[mjss]

@8:20

The other thing about subtitles - is they often don't match what is being said. Closed Captions are supposed to be word for word.

Sometimes when they are creating alternate dialog for the show the subtitles don't match. The subs let them get in more context while the dialog has to fall in the same window as the character is talking so often times this is where they use different words from the subtitles,

[LauraBCReyna]

I'm just above beginner in Italian. And yeah, my mind shuts down when too much of some text or speech is incomprehensible. I've decided that in order to advance (understand native content) I need to learn a lot of vocabulary, and the best way to do that is to learn words in context. I bought a book that gives me 2k of the most common Italian words in sentences with translations. I'm slowly making my way thru it. I'm not memorizing the sentences, just reading them multiple times to let the meaning of the words sink in over time. Seems to be working. I'm finding that more & more of what I read & listen to is more & more comprehensible.

[DaKrazedKyubizt]

This is interesting. I’m actually super patient, so I’m very happy to read something starting with as little as 0% comprehension, simply because I know my growth is actually going to be much faster precisely because I’m running into tons and tons of new words. But with listening, yeah, that’s different. I definitely prefer a transcript sometimes.

[coolbrotherf]

In general, I suggest really studying about 1000ish words and common phrases before really trying to jump into native never material. Before that, reading through some grammar lessons or learning vocab has been the most helpful to me in the very beginner stages.

[internalmedicine]

Great video. Probably the best channel on YouTube for language learning. Keep up the good work

[eliseobrien]

I have been reading and re-reading simple stories in French, that have accompanying CD discs. I read them over and over again and then listen to them whilst following the text. When I put the book away and attempt to listen to the CD on its own, I have to concentrate very hard, but I am picking up more and more. One of these books is “Poursuite dans Paris”, Nicolas Gerrier....Lire et s’entrainer....CIDEB. Highly recommend this series. Lots of titles and good reads.